And It Felt Like A Kiss: Part Eleven
by yestermeyesteryou
Summary: Part Eleven of the multi-part story 'And It Felt Like A Kiss'. "There was a hand on Blaine's shoulder. Gentle. Fingers rubbing little circles into the skin, only separated by the thin fabric of Puck's old paramedics team t-shirt he wore to the last hospital softball game that Blaine liked to wear to bed sometimes. Guess for some absurd reason tonight had been one of those nights."
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer__: The author of this piece does not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters from Glee belong to their original creators._

___Summary__: Part Eleven of the multi-part story 'And It Felt Like A Kiss'. "There was a hand on Blaine's shoulder. Gentle. Fingers rubbing little circles into the skin, only separated by the thin fabric of Puck's old paramedics team t-shirt he wore to the last hospital softball game that Blaine liked to wear to bed sometimes."_

___Notes____: Will be two chapters in total. _

___This may or may not be a tearjerker, so have your tissues ready. _

___Enjoy!_

* * *

"So I'm on holiday starting on the Friday, should we just leave that evening?" Blaine looked up from his calendar, sitting in front of Puck at the small table in the kitchen trying to make plans for the holidays. "Hello?"

"What?" Shaking his head back into the real world and away from the thoughts flying around in his mind, Puck took a sip off coffee. "Sorry, I barely got any sleep." He tried on a reassuring smile. "But I'm here having breakfast with you because I feel like I haven't seen you all week and I want to, and I am awake. What were you saying?"

"Want to leave to Ohio on the Friday when I get off work?"

"We have time, let's just do Saturday morning or something. Why stress."

Blaine made a note on the open page before grabbing his cereal bowl, drinking down the last splash of milk at the bottom, sweet from the sugary Lucky Charms and still a little chilled. He stood up from the table. "Ok. I have to go to work now." He walked over to Puck, leaning down to plant a kiss on the side of his head. "Go back to bed, you look terrible." He got a chuckle in response.

"Thanks? And you're dapper, as ever."

"Because I'm showered, dressed and have the luxury of not working the occasional graveyard shift." Blaine put a hand on Puck's forehead. "Are you coming down with something? You look a little flushed."

"Nah. Just exhausted." He nodded reassuringly. "You're going to be late." Another kiss, this time on his forehead.

"Ok. Well, see you later." Blaine could be heard in the hallway, kicking shoes on and getting his jacket. "Don't forget to walk the dog."

Sighing heavily, Puck leaned his forehead on the arms he had crossed over the table. "Why wouldn't I walk the dog?"

"I don't know." If Puck had looked up, he'd see Blaine peeking his head in from the doorframe. "I mean, don't do it, if you're sick. Just don't forget."

"Whatever."

"Alright." Blaine disappeared from the door, shortly finding himself with a hand on the handle to the front door. "See you."

* * *

"Dude, is it even allowed to do as much overtime as you do?"

Puck gave his colleague a look, huffing in response; eyes soon back on the road. "Do I look like I care about what's 'allowed' or not? I live on the edge, man."

"All I'm saying is." Johnson looked out the window on the passenger side of the ambulance, so close it fogged up the glass just a little bit. "I'd much rather spend my evenings curled up on the couch with my wife, drinking brandy and doing a marathon of Law and Order than driving around in this blizzard waiting for the next tragic accident to happen."

"Then you probably picked the wrong career, man."

"Maybe. Or, maybe I'm just 40, hence much older and wiser than you, buddy."

"Maybe. Hey, speaking of brandy. How about after this shift we hit up the good old watering hole?"

"Why the hell not. We can probably punch out at about 12, wifey is asleep anyway."

"Exactly."

* * *

"The hell…"

Suddenly wide awake Blaine's eyes shot up in the dark bedroom, making out his boyfriend's staggering figure somewhere by the door having a little quarrel with his t-shirt. "You know it's 3 AM.?"

"Now I do." His body landed on the bed next to him.

"Thought you'd be back hours ago." He stretched his arms out while letting out an audible yawn. "I waited up but you didn't pick up the phone."

"I'm sorry, babe." Puck came closer, landing a sloppy kiss on Blaine's cheek.

"It's OK. There's food in the fridge if you want."

"It's not OK, you're pissed…" He climbed over Blaine, continuing to leave kisses down the side of his face. "Want to make it up to you…"

"How?" There was a curiousness in Blaine's eyes as he looked up into Puck's slightly unfocused ones.

"How about…" Hands made their way in under Blaine's t-shirt, palms planted on his ribs to slowly make their way down to his hips. "A nice, slow fuck." Their faces were close now, Puck's breath with an air or brandy mixing with Blaine's minty one.

"I don't know." Blaine threw a quick glance at the alarm clock on his side, his next words a little smaller than before, apologetic, almost. "I have to get up in like three hours."

Rolling off, Puck let out an audible sigh. "It's just. It's been really long, you know."

Blaine shook his head a little wider awake, turning to his boyfriend. "No, you're right. And, you know. I think I'm finally good to go." A little smile was playing on his lips, soon to be mimicked on Puck's face as he returned to his position over Blaine, this time without much further ado attacking his neck with an eager mouth.

Hands were grasping, squeezing almost desperately as if to make up for missed time and opportunity, having spent the majority of the time together lately on this very bed, scarce as it was, actually sleeping.

"Ready?"

Throwing his head back into the pillow in response to the slick fingers thrusting in and out of him, Blaine nodded eagerly as he spread his legs a little wider, pulling them closer to his body.

Although so far a little more aggressive than usual, Puck leaned forward to press a soft kiss against Blaine's flustered cheek, taking a moment to rub his forehead against the now almost damp curls on the side of Blaine's head as he whispered. "You tell me if it hurts, ok?"

"Uh huh." Nodding readily, Blaine took the opportunity to turn his head and kiss back, only coming back for air to moan in response to Puck pushing into him.

"You good?" Puck pushed in again, reveling in the look on Blaine's face as he threw his head back again at every thrust, eyelashes fluttering in the darkness of the room.

"Yeah… I'm good."

* * *

"Do you get together with your family for the holidays?"

Sebastian shot an unamused look in Sam's direction. "We don't 'get together', we tolerate each other over the holidays."

"Fine, whatever. What about you Puck?"

The paramedic looked into the empty bottom of his glass before answering the question. "Last year we spent with Cooper, tomorrow we're going to my mom's house in Ohio. Where did Blaine go, anyway?" He looked around the bar to see if he could spot his recently missing boyfriend.

"Oh, you're wondering where Blaine is?" Sebastian had one of those eerie smirks lurking on his face. "I saw him flirting with the hot bartender ten minutes ago."

"What?" Leaning his arms on the table, Puck pushed himself up a bit to get a better overview of the bar area.

"Oh, come on. A boy's allowed to look as long as he doesn't touch, am I right?"

Puck wasn't really listening any longer as he made his way over after having finally spotted Blaine, leaning over the bar while playing with a half full glass of something in his hands, apparently in a conversation with what looked like some well-built douchebag with tattooed forearms. Perhaps this was a good thing, he thought to himself for almost half a second. Maybe Blaine was finally over that Daddy-complex he seemed to have had going for him almost exclusively before. Just in time to put a hand on his shoulder, Blaine turned towards him looking as animated as usual.

"Hey! Look, I got a free drink. It's a…" He looked back at the guy behind the bar to fill in the name of the cocktail.

"Horny Sailor. We're thinking of putting it on the menu so I need a couple of test subjects to try it out."

"Alright." The intended pat on the shoulder was unintentionally turning into an almost possessive grip on Blaine's arm. "Come on, let's go back to the guys."

Blaine stood, not really having an option unless he wanted to be dragged across the floor as Puck's face came a little closer to his ear, breath hot against the side of his neck. "Were you flirting with that guy?"

Suddenly not so amused any longer, Blaine shook his arm free stumbling two steps backwards, looking skeptically at Puck. "No. I was talking to that guy."

"Are you drunk?"

Blaine lowered his voice as he stepped closer, seemingly without removing any power from his words. "Yes I'm drunk, I'm in a fucking bar."

Huffing in response, Puck continued to their table with Blaine following shortly behind, sliding in next to Sam in their regular booth.

"Oh, no." Sebastian made an ironic little pout. "Did I get Blaine into trouble?"

Blaine still didn't seem amused. "Screw you."

* * *

"I really don't see what your problem is. As I recall it wasn't me who came falling into our bedroom a couple of days ago, having stayed up drinking after work until 3 at night on a Tuesday."

Puck just kept walking a couple of steps ahead of Blaine through the cold, winter night. He stopped as he reached their building, shoving a hand into the pocket of his jeans to fish out the key.

Rushing a foot inside the door as it was closing, Blaine looked baffled as he pushed the door back open, shortly behind Puck walking up the stairs. He didn't say anything until they were inside the apartment.

"You know that guy was straight, right? He's married to some musician and has got twins on the way."

"So we know this guy's entire life story, now?"

"Whatever." Walking into the kitchen, Blaine cracked open the door to the fridge, presenting a bottle of beer before turning to the cupboard to rummage a hand around the cups and glasses in order to find his stash of emergency cigarettes, without much success.

"Brilliant, Blaine. Drink more."

"You're really good at sarcasm, you know. Has anybody ever told you that?"

"I don't know, have they told you?"

Defiantly slamming the door to the cupboard shut, Blaine opened the beer and turned towards the counter, hearing the footsteps walking up to him without looking over his shoulder. "What is this about, Puck?"

"It's about you, getting hammered all the time and throwing yourself at any guy who lends you a fucking smile."

At this point, Blaine did turn around. "I am nice to people, Puck. That's all. I have never been or wanted to be with anybody else and if you don't know that then you're an idiot."

"Oh, really?" Grabbing the bottle from Blaine's hand and setting it down loudly on the counter, Puck found his hands gripping onto Blaine's upper arms. "Wasn't it you who had a little date with that ex of yours a while back?"

"Oh, so this is what's happening." Blaine laughed without an ounce humor to his voice, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked down at one of Puck's hands on his arm, fingers digging into the sweater clad skin almost surprising himself with how calm he was. "You're a real tough guy, Puck. You know that? Really, really tough."

There was a flash of something visible in Puck's eyes for just half a second, and it looked a lot like realization as he suddenly let go, almost pushing Blaine away before prompting to take two steps backwards. He turned around and headed back to the front door, leaving a confused Blaine standing in their kitchen.

"Where are you going?"

The slamming of the door answered the question for him.

Out.

* * *

It was early in the morning. But early mornings in December were just as cold and dark as the nights.

There was a hand on Blaine's shoulder. Gentle. Fingers rubbing little circles into the skin, only separated by the thin fabric of Puck's old paramedics team t-shirt he wore to the last hospital softball game that Blaine liked to wear to bed sometimes. Guess for some absurd reason tonight had been one of those nights.

Puck didn't even know if he wanted Blaine to wake up or not, but the problem was solved for him as the sleepy figure on the bed gingerly opened their eyes.

"Hey…"

"Blaine…" Puck looked down at Blaine's hand that had found its way to rest on his knee where he sat on the edge of the side of the bed. Blaine didn't even look angry. 'He should', Puck thought to himself, seeing as that would have made his next words a lot easier to say. But of course, because Blaine was the best thing that had ever happened to him, he wasn't angry. "I think I should go alone, today. To Ohio."

There was a 'What?' waiting to escape from Blaine's lips as he shook his head on the pillow, but instead he said nothing.

"I need some time to think."

Still, Blaine didn't say anything.

"I… I've been feeling something lately and I… I don't know, Blaine."

When he finally spoke, it was barely a whisper. "But… we we're going to be together."

Puck thought for a moment about how that was true. Because they were going to be together. That was supposed to happen, and he didn't even know if Blaine was referring to the upcoming couple of days or the rest of their lives.

"I just, I need some time to think." Puck wondered if Blaine would believe him, if he just repeated it. He just couldn't tell him what he needed to think about. About how he'd been so crazy in love with this person that since they met he'd acted almost out of character the whole time? About how he never wanted to get married because at the end of the day vows were just pathetic lies people told each other in front of God of all beings just to hurt one another down the line, in spite of all their hopes and promises. But for some reason he'd felt the need to ask Blaine, knowing deep inside that it was a mistake but how could he take something like that back now? About how he hated the holidays, because when he was a kid both his parents would spend way too much time with each other around the house. Fighting. Throwing things. About how lately he'd seen some things in himself that he'd never seen before, signs of his father. And it scared the hell out of him.

His father, who would accuse. Yell and hit.

His mother, who would cry.

Blaine's eyes were wet. But he didn't cry. Because Blaine was tough, and Puck knew he wouldn't shed a single tear until he was out the door. The packed bag was standing by the foot of the bed.

"I have to go now."

Blaine sat up, holding onto his hand. "You don't have to go. I won't drink, I swear." He tried to smile, making the sight even harder to bear and Puck asked himself how on earth it was possible that he wasn't crying himself. "And I won't be nice to people." A soft laugh escaped his mouth.

Puck couldn't find more words for the time being, standing up to grab his bag.

"Are you leaving me?"

"No… Blaine." He turned to face him, thankful that it was really difficult making out anything in the dark at this distance.

"Because it looks a lot like you're about to leave."

He was standing in the door when he heard those words, knowing how terribly he was treating the person he loved the most right now but fearing what he'd possibly turn into if he stayed. Would he hold onto Blaine, shake him by the shoulders until he'd say what he'd want to hear? Would he scream at him and call him things? Would he hit him?

"I'll call you once I get there."

As unbearable as the silence was in itself, he preferred it over the words he was about to hear.

"Don't bother."

* * *

Once upon a time, when he was 17 Blaine had dreamt about Puck sneaking into his window at night, only to wake up in the morning and realize it had never happened.

As the first hint of daylight poked through the open curtains through lazy morning rays of sun, he would have given anything to wake up to the last memory fresh on his mind being a nightmare. But the absence of the familiar body next to him begged to differ.

Although it didn't really change the fact that it was a nightmare.

* * *

"Hey kid! How's good old Ohio treating you?"

Cooper's cheerful voice through the phone almost made him want to wince. "I'm… not in Lima right now."

"Oh, ok. I thought you guys were leaving today."

Blaine thought about lying for a second, only to come to the conclusion that keeping the truth from Cooper usually ended way more dramatically than necessary. "Um, yeah. Puck went. I'm still here."

The cheerfulness from his voice quickly disappeared. "You guys Ok?"

Blaine's voice was unstable, shaky, almost as he spoke. "I don't know."

"What happened, Blaine?" The older brother sounded uncertain.

"I don't know." It was absolutely killing him to admit the morning's development to his brother, but after going over the situation in his head all day until the evening he realized there was a chance that this was it, and he still couldn't wrap his head around it. It felt humiliating. Did he really not know what he had done to push Puck away? Was it literally impossible to stay with him, was he incapable of being truly loved?

"I'm sure it's going to be fine… Was he with someone else?"

Blaine shrugged as he sat on the couch, still wearing his pajama pants and Puck's old t-shirt even though it was almost 8 at night. "Not that I know of."

There was a short pause on the other end of the line. "Were you?"

"No. God, no."

"Then, what happened?"

"We had a fight. Last night. He left, which he never does. And then this morning he was back, telling me he was leaving without me."

"And then he left without you?"

"He left without me."

* * *

There were six words written in the so far unsent text message on his phone. 'I think Puck just left me.' He clicked send.

Half a minute later, it was ringing. "This is Blaine."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Hey, Sebastian. Want to go out or something?"

There was a short pause on the other end. "I think it's important that we do."

An hour later Blaine found himself sitting in his car outside of Sebastian's building. With his hands on the wheel he looked ahead, almost throwing up at the sight of the ring of silver around his finger. He slid it off and threw it on top of the dashboard before getting out of the car to make his way into the building.

"Hey, killer." Sebastian usually didn't hug, because hugging was a sign of affection which in his world often translated into weakness or simply being pathetic. Which was why Blaine almost felt confused, finding himself actually being held by the guy. "You're gonna be Ok, you know that right?"

Once finally released, Blaine took a step back. "I guess. I just need to forget today, to be honest."

"There's a thing I know that'll definitely help you with that. It's called tequila."

* * *

"Ok, honey it's this way…" Sebastian looked at an out if it Blaine turning around on the street, smile on his face when he spotted his friend having exited the bar to walk into the opposite direction. "Has anyone ever told you you're a lightweight?" He laughed nervously.

"Once or twice, maybe. Are we going to a club?"

"No, Blaine. I'm taking you home and getting you a hot milk with honey or something equally disgusting." He walked up to the shorter man, tightening the scarf around his neck and getting the zipper on his jacket closed.

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic." The two of them started walking down the cold street.

"For once I'm not, actually."

"But I have to go home, I've got to feed the dog."

"I don't trust you being alone right now, I'll send you off in a cab first thing in the morning."

Luckily the walk from the bar to Sebastian's place wasn't far, which was mostly spent with Sebastian pulling on Blaine's arm to walk straight ahead. By the time they were inside the apartment, Sebastian was starting to feel the buzz from those last couple of drinks almost as hard as Blaine already seemed to be. He pushed a bottle of water in front of Blaine, who was leaning over the kitchen counter.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure?" Sebastian was hoping it wouldn't be anything too sentimental as Blaine turned to him, a serious look on his face.

"Would you fuck me?"

Alright, at least it wasn't sentimental. "In a heartbeat, killer." He winked at him, pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge for himself. "You know I would."

"No, I don't mean 'would' you…" Blaine walked over to him until he was standing right in front of him in the dark kitchen area, lit only by a little lamp above the stove. "I mean, if I asked you to. Would you?"

Could it be possible to actually be more intoxicated than Blaine at the moment, because Sebastian wasn't so sure that he wasn't himself. "Blaine, I…"

"Isn't it what you wanted?" He was so close, if he'd be any closer they would be touching.

"But, it's not what you wanted."

Blaine put his hands on the taller man's chest, closing the final distance between them. "Kiss me…"

It took a lot of willpower not to. "I… I'm not going to kiss you, Blaine."

"Why not?"

"Because one day you're going to marry Puck, and eventually he's going to find out about this and then he's going to kick my ass. And as many times as I've fantasized about that very thing it is not going to be hot. Not to mention, it'll be awkward between us."

"Puck doesn't want to marry me."

"Of course he does."

Blaine's face was close to his, now. As close as it could get, with the height difference between them. "Fuck me. I know you want to."

"Maybe I don't want to be used in your little 'getting back' scheme." In reality he couldn't care less about that.

"You couldn't care less about being used as long as you get laid." Blaine was onto him.

"Fine. Then maybe I don't want to be the thing you're going to regret in the morning."

"Then I guess I'm just going to have to take my business elsewhere." Finally, he took a step back, eyes lingering on the two invisible handprints he'd left on Sebastian's chest.

"I'll take the couch. You can sleep on my bed."

"I don't want to 'sleep' on your bed."

"Fine. Then leave, I don't care."

"Good."

But there was nothing about it that was good.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

He must literally have lost his mind. At least that was the thought going through Blaine's mind as he found himself on the street in front of Sebastian's building, standing by his car which he was in absolutely no condition of driving that evening, even though the brisk wind did have quite the sobering effect on him. But there was something in that car he suddenly felt the need to retrieve.

Fishing around in his pocket for the keys, he got the door open and climbed into the driver's seat to get a look around the dashboard. He supposed it must be there somewhere, unless it had fallen down on the floor. Turning the engine on to get some light, he kept looking for that silver ring he had stupidly thrown away hours earlier, suddenly feeling the need to hold onto the only thing reminding him of how much he'd actually meant to Puck at one point or another, regardless if it theoretically was absolutely meaningless now.

There was a knock on the window, the shine of a flashlight protruding through the glass disturbing the otherwise soft glow inside the car. Blaine rolled down the window, realizing it really wasn't his night tonight. Let alone day.

"Yes, officer?" There was an almost painful lump somewhere in his throat.

"Would you be so kind and step out of the vehicle. I'm going to need license and registration."

Blaine opened the glove compartment to get his papers out, pulling out his wallet to produce his license as he climbed out of the car. "Sir, I know what this looks like but I swear I wasn't going to drive. I was looking for something in the car."

The cop didn't look like he was having any of it, shoving a little apparatus in front of Blaine's face as his colleague came to collect Blaine's information only to quickly disappear again. "I'm going to need you to blow into this."

Blaine sighed, looking down at his feet before taking a deep breath, blowing the verdict he could predict with ease. "I really wasn't driving anywhere, I swear."

"We've already got you on public intoxication because we saw you entering the car. But you got into the driver's seat with the engine on, and this is where we have to step in before you cause any serious damage."

He'd probably never felt this defeated in his entire life, tired eyes searching for just a hint of compassion in the police offer's ice cold, blue ones. "I wasn't going to drive."

"Alright pretty boy, turn around, arms behind your back."

Blaine did as he was told, sighing heavily in the process as the handcuffs clasped around his wrists. "Is this really necessary?" Judging from the way the cop roughly grabbed a hold of the back of Blaine's jacket, he must have gotten sick of him talking as he shoved him into the backseat of the police car.

Blaine comforted himself with the fact that this was happening on the day where nothing could possibly have gone worse than they had started off, the situation he momentarily found himself in actually preferable to what had happened that morning. Still, it did kind of feel like salt rubbed into a fresh, pulsating wound.

* * *

Handcuffed on the hard wooden bench at the station was probably the least comfortable place to sober up at, Blaine thought to himself as he sat watching everything between petty criminals and hardcore drug dealers being pushed around him at the station. He thanked his lucky stars that at least there wouldn't be anybody around to recognize him as he had to endure probably the most humiliating process he'd ever experienced.

Blaine Anderson. Elementary school teacher. Recently single, unless informed otherwise. Drunk 'driver.'

"Blaine?"

Well, here's to not being recognized. He looked up at the owner of the familiar voice, instantly recognizing the face of Puck's colleague. Jonathan?

"I'm Johnson. Aren't you Puckerman's boy?"

"I'm not his 'boy'." Apparently being arrested and shoved into a police car had the effect of giving him a little extra attitude.

"I'm sorry, partner? "

"I…" The new found attitude was fading quickly. "Sure."

"I was just dropping off this guy who fell face first onto the pavement with the day cashier of a convenience store."

"Alright." It was hard trying to look causal when your wrists were handcuffed behind your back.

"So what happened to you?"

Maybe this was a good thing, somebody wanting to hear his side of the story for the first time since he arrived at this place. "I was leaving my friend's place, decided to look for something in my car before leaving but they got me booked for a DUI."

"That's bullshit." Johnson muttered under his breath before turning around, quickly disappearing around the corner. When he returned moments later, the arresting officer in tow Blaine let out a sigh of relief as the cop motioned for him to stand and turn around, sort of hesitantly releasing him from the cuffs.

"Thank you."

There was no 'You're welcome' as the officer walked away. Johnson patted him on the shoulder.

"Looks like you're free to go. Come on, I'll drive you home."

* * *

The ride so far had been silent and almost painfully awkward.

It was probably five in the morning by the time Blaine felt the buzzing of the phone in his pocket, prompting him to wonder who could possibly be calling him at this hour. Sebastian, wondering where he'd gone off to, maybe. He looked down at the screen.

'Puck'.

"Aren't you going to answer?" Johnson looked over at him from behind the wheel.

Blaine asked himself what would happen if he picked up. Was this the last time Puck would ever call him? If he just avoided talking to him forever, would they technically never be broken up? Was he sorry? Did it even matter, because could Blaine even forgive?

"This is Blaine."

Johnson threw him a tentative glance as they stopped by a red light.

"Blaine… I."

"I can't talk right now."

"Ok. Where are you?"

"On my way home."

"Ok." Blaine could hear the wheels turning in Puck's head to notion that he couldn't talk at the moment, that he was on his way home at five in the morning from somewhere Puck didn't know. "Ok. Can I call you in the morning?"

He looked nervously over at Johnson, whose eyes were back on the road. "Yeah."

"I love you, Blaine. I really do."

"Mhm." He thought about how awkward it would be if Johnson knew who he was speaking so coldly to on the phone, potentially giving it away with any term of endearment.

"Do… Can you still love me?"

A sob was dangerously close to escaping his throat.

"Babe?"

That was it. "Of course I do, you idiot." He shut his eyelids tight in an effort to compose himself, shortly followed by another quick look over at the person sitting next to him. This time, for just a millisecond, Johnson caught his eyes.

"I am an idiot."

"I really can't talk right now."

"Ok. Later then."

"Bye." He was quick to shut the phone, letting out a deep breath from somewhere inside his chest he didn't know he'd been holding in the entire conversation.

The car came to a halt.

"You ok?" If Blaine had looked over, he'd see the look of worry on Johnson's face.

"Mhm." He nodded a little bit too fast.

"That Brooks officer is a bit of an asshole. You tell me if he stepped over the line and I'll make sure to beat the shit out of him." He tried on a smile as he searched for Blaine's eyes sitting in the car, illuminated by the soft glow of the streetlight outside.

Blaine chuckled softly. "It was fine."

"That's a first."

He leaned his head back into the seat for a second, having died to get out of the car at any given moment throughout the whole ride, suddenly not feeling ready to face the unforgiving early winter morning waiting outside. He looked over.

"He did call me 'pretty boy'. I decided to take it as a compliment."

Now it was Johnson's turn to chuckle. "That's the spirit."

"Could you…" The question on his lips was turning him a little more serious once again. "Not mention this to Puck?"

There was an aura of understanding about the other man. "Sure." Blaine wondered just how much it was that he understood.

"And thank you. I'm not really street-smart enough to get out of that situation by myself."

"I'm sure you'd handle yourself just fine."

"Yeah…" It was time to leave. "So, thank you, again. For the ride as well."

"Take care now."

Blaine jumped out of the car, only to see a person slumped over on his stoop. "Sebastian?"

Suddenly up, as if just recently awake the taller man looked at him with big eyes, a hint of relief painted on his face.

"What are you doing here?" He approached the stoop as Sebastian stood up.

"You were completely wasted… I shouldn't have let you just walk out. Where the hell were you? You didn't pick up the phone, I was fucking worried about you." He was giving him a stern look, which looked oddly misplaced on Sebastian's otherwise almost constantly nonchalant face. "And I never worry. Ever."

Blaine walked passed him, working on getting the door open.

"And why the hell were you just dropped off by an ambulance?"

"I'll tell you all about it in the morning, ok? Because I seriously need to sleep."

Sebastian finally uncrossed the arms over his chest, settling on putting his hands on his hips as he looked at his friend. "That's probably the only good idea you've had all night."

* * *

Blaine looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, the unforgiving lamp above highlighting the dark circles under his eyes as he rinsed his toothbrush in the sink.

In the bedroom, Sebastian was unbuttoning his shirt as Blaine walked in, not even interested in the naked chest illuminated by the streetlight outside the window as he laid down on the bed, another body soon weighing down on the mattress on the other side.

"We're too old for this, aren't we? I mean, is sharing a bed inappropriate?" Blaine yawned as he stretched out on the bed.

"I'm sure it is, but it doesn't beat your little proposition earlier tonight. Besides, since when are we not inappropriate?"

"That's true." Blaine stared into the ceiling, so tired he wasn't quite sure if he was still awake or not. "I'm really, really sorry about that by the way."

"Don't sweat it."

Suddenly, whatever vision that he had in the dark room turned foggy, trails of something wet finding their way down the sides of his face. The other weight on the bed came closer.

"Shh, it's going to be fine."

A pair of lips were pressed against the top of his head, soothing words trickling into his thick skull as he focused on not shaking too much, warm arms tightly wrapped around his body hugging a little closer with every sob that managed to escape from his throat.

"He was my chance, you know?"

Sebastian nodded somewhere above, even though he wasn't quite sure what he meant.

"This was my chance to have a normal life. Everything else was always so fucked up."

"I know… I know."

And on some level maybe Blaine should have worried about the almost intimate position he suddenly found himself in, in the arms of somebody who clearly wasn't his boyfriend, or whatever Puck was to him at this point. But deep inside he felt the comfort of knowing that holding another person as they were basically crying themselves to sleep while whispering sweet nothings into their ear was the least sexy thing Sebastian could imagine, so in reality there really wasn't anything to worry about after all.

* * *

It was nine in the morning when the phone on the nightstand promptly started to ring. Blaine quickly looked over at the soundly asleep figure next to him before grabbing the phone, swiftly getting up and closing the door behind him as he walked out to answer.

"Hi."

"Hi, Blaine." There was an awkward silence for a while as all that could be heard was Puck's nervous breathing on the other end of the line. "Did you get some sleep?"

"Yeah." Blaine walked into the kitchen, settling down on a chair by the small table.

"I know I made a huge, huge mistake."

"I agree."

"I should have talked to you. But you know I'm not that good at 'talking'…"

"Why did you leave?" He couldn't get the question off his chest soon enough, feeling almost as though a weight had been lifted even though he still didn't have a clue what the answer may or may not be.

"I, I didn't like how I was treating you. You didn't deserve that."

"Puck… People fight. Sometimes about stupid things, it happens."

"Not to me. I'm not going to stand there accusing you of things and grabbing you. I don't do that."

Nodding absentmindedly, Blaine was starting to see what this might be about.

"And I promised you I would never treat you like that. I am not going to be my father."

The words were soft as he spoke, but it was clear how much he meant every single one of them. "You're not your father, Puck."

His voice shaky on the other line, Puck took a deep breath. "I just thought I should take myself away from everything before I'd do something I'd really regret. And I'm sorry. It's just… The holidays. Fucking, stupid love…"

"I thought you said you loved me."

"I do love you, Blaine."

"And that's stupid?"

"I… I'm just not sure I believe in it. People do fucked up things to people they love."

"I don't care, Puck." He could feel his heart beating faster, no clue where this conversation was going but it sure was starting to make him feel aggravated. "I have loved you since I was 16 years old, and I am not going to stop just because you don't know if you believe in it or not."

"How can you love a person who slammed your face into the wall."

"I don't know. Maybe people do fucked up things to each other but I don't care. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Maybe that's because the bar was set pretty low before me, Blaine."

"Don't say that…" His voice was shaky as he leaned on an elbow over the table, a nervous hand running through his hair. "Please don't say that. Just because I've been with some bad people before doesn't mean I'm damaged to the point of not recognizing a good thing when I see it."

"You're not damaged, Blaine."

"I'll believe you mean that if you believe that what we had was good. What we have."

Puck didn't say anything for a while.

"Please, Puck. I can't function without you. I'm pretty sure in the last 24 hours I've been on the quickest downward spiral ever experienced by mankind."

"If you're really sure."

"I am really, really sure."

"I do love you."

Blaine exhaled, feeling a hint of relief even if he still wasn't really sure what was going on. "So. How's your mom?"

"She's pissed at me, obviously." Finally there was an air of ease somewhere in Puck's voice as well.

"What did she say?"

"Not much. And by that I mean that she slapped me and called me an idiot." He chuckled nervously, and Blaine couldn't help but letting it infect him.

"I wish I could have seen that."

"She hates that you're not here. I hate it too, I am a fucking idiot."

"I know."

"Do you still want to be here?" Blaine thought to himself that if Puck was asking him that question, it must be possible that everything was going to be ok.

"I think so. But even if I wanted to there's no way I can afford a last minute ticket. It's Christmas."

There were footsteps in the kitchen, Blaine suddenly looking up at a half dressed Sebastian looking like he was in dire need of a cup of coffee.

"I can."

* * *

"You know I'm not quite sure if you've been my life-support or enabler throughout this whole process, but I can't thank you enough."

"I like to think that I'm a little bit of both." Sebastian flashed him a smile from the driver's seat of his expensive car as they came to a halt in front of the airport. "Who knows, maybe you'll even be able to pay me back one day."

"Right..."

"Hey, you never told me what the hell you were up to in the time between leaving my place and showing back up at yours."

Getting out of the car with his friend as he got the trunk open to get his bag, Blaine laughed to himself. "Right. Yeah, so I got arrested. I have to run now or I'll miss my flight."

"What the flying fuck? What for?"

"For sitting in a car with the light on or something, but it all worked out."

Sebastian raised a suspicious eyebrow. "If you say so…"

"I say so."

"Alright. Then go, so you don't miss your flight. Get your man back, or whatever the hell the buddy is supposed to say at this point in the cheesy rom-com."

"I have a feeling 'Thank you for not letting me make you sleep with me last night' is a different type of movie." Blaine laughed as the taller man patted his shoulder, the two of them having hugged it out enough for years to follow within the last couple of hours.

"You're welcome, anyway."

"Please don't forget the drop the dog of at Sam's."

"You really owe me big time."

* * *

He felt nervous.

Standing outside the door of the home his boyfriend had grown up in, Blaine felt nervous. As if the person standing on the other side might be a different one than he'd seen just a day ago. The cabride there hadn't been better, and he felt like as if he'd suddenly landed on a different planet once he'd gotten off the plane, not snowing at the time yet the landscape was white, so white as far as they eye could see. Still.

Not gray and chaotic, like the city. He knocked on the door, putting some effort into straightening himself up in order not to give into the sensation of feeling like he'd pass out any minute. It opened up, and the second it did Blaine could feel his heart getting stuck in his throat.

"You made it."

"Yup." They just sort stood there in the doorway for Blaine didn't know how long, words struggling to escape trembling lips on uncertain faces. He brought up the bottle he was holding in his hand into view. "I bought Bailey's. At the airport."

And then Puck smiled, taking the step forward into the cold winter noon that was necessary in order to close the distance between them, throwing his arms around Blaine in a not so uncertain hug. "Thank you so, so much…" The words were whispered hotly somewhere above his head as heavy hands went up and down his back, alternating between grabbing onto fists of the fabric of his jacket and smoothing it back down into his back.

"It's just a bottle…" Blaine laughed softly, taking a deep breath through his nose to find comfort in Puck's familiar scent mixing with the cold air outside, stinging in his nostrils.

Puck took a step back, heavy hands settling on the shorter man's shoulders thumbing gently at the exposed skin of Blaine's neck just above his collar. "You're the best guy in the world, you know that."

"I used to think that was you. But clearly, I think it's safe to say that you've been overtaken."

"Absolutely." Puck chuckled, genuine happiness mixed with so much emotion Blaine couldn't even place in his eyes.

"You know… If I wasn't so enlightened on the ramifications of domestic violence I'd seriously like to punch you in the face right now."

Chuckling once again as he nodded, Puck looked down at the ground before finding Blaine's eyes as they stood on the stoop. "How about you get a shot. I won't even dodge, I promise."

Corner of his mouth quirking into a smile, Blaine bit on his lip in an effort suppress it, attempting to look somewhat serious. "Maybe sometime at boxing. Then I won't have to feel so guilty about it."

* * *

"So that's how you start a fire…" Blaine looked on, amused, as he sat on the couch in front of the fireplace watching his boyfriend throw bundled up newspaper into the flame. "This is kind of turning me on… I feel like you should be taking off your shirt for this."

"You know it takes a lot for me to get on a button down for the occasion, so I'm afraid that's a no."

"Damn." He smiled, looking over his shoulder to see Victoria tossing a blanket into his lap and handing him a cup of something warm and caramely. "Is there alcohol in this?"

"Yes."

"Perfect."

She sat down next to him, spreading the blanket over both of them.

"You didn't get me one, mom?" Puck looked over his shoulder at the duo on the couch.

"You can get your own." Victoria took a sip of her own cup and scooted a little closer. "I only get things for my favorite son now." She smiled as Blaine leaned back, putting his head on her shoulder.

"Can you adopt me, Mrs. P?"

Puck looked appalled at the two of them. "Ew, Blaine."

"Of course I can, sweetie." Putting an arm around him, she reached a hand over to rest on his head, pushing a couple of short curls from his forehead. "As a matter of fact I wouldn't mind trading you in for my own airhead of a kid."

Blaine couldn't help but to enjoy the childish defiance on his boyfriend's face just a little too much.

"Are we going to be done with this come New Years, at least?" He sat down by the fire, crossing his arms over his chest.

Taking a sip of the warm beverage heating up his throat, Blaine smiled at him with a little shrug. "I don't know. I haven't decided yet."

* * *

"It's snowing outside."

Puck walked up behind his boyfriend, standing by the window looking out at the moonlit garden covered in a bluish white. "Yup."

Blaine turned his head over his shoulder to look at him. "Do you have a sweater or something I could sleep in?" Two big arms found their way around his upper body.

"I can warm you…"

"Or, you could steal the covers off me like you usually do and leave me freezing all night."

"And then there's the risk of that happening, you're absolutely right." He left a pat on his shoulder as he let go, turning around to dig into his suitcase, throwing a sweater at Blaine once he found one. "Here."

The shorter man tightened the waist on his pajama pants before slipping the sweater on. Soon the arms found their way back around him, voice somewhere above his head.

"Where's your ring?"

Blaine looked down at his hand, almost finding some sick pleasure in the worry in Puck's voice. "Somewhere in the car."

"Ok." He was silent for a moment, the two of them standing in the dark room looking out at the soft snowflakes falling down on the ground. "Are you going to wear it? If you find it, I mean."

Now it was Blaine's turn to pause for a second, eyes focusing on the naked branches of the tree standing outside the window, slowly but surely being dressed in sparkling white. "Do you want me to?" The voice above him came closer, hot against the sensitive skin on the back of his neck.

"I do."

He nodded. "I'll find it. Don't worry."

And in a couple of days, once they were back home and had picked the dog up from Sam and thanked Sebastian for everything probably one million times, he did.

**_FIN_**


End file.
